Bots and Beer party lets humans, robots network

1of3Carolyn Estrada plays with an Aibo robotic dog during a social meetup of San Francisco's community of robot aficionados, and their robots put on by Silicon Valley Robotics at Comet Labs in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, March 16, 2016.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

2of3Robotics afficianados chat during a social meetup put on by Silicon Valley Robotics at Comet Labs in San Francisco.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

3of3A model of BB-8 from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” keeps watch over chips and dip at the event at Comet Labs in San Francisco.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

The party, at first glance, seemed unremarkable — a throng of techies and engineers swigging beer and milling around an open office space.

Then, from across the room, a shouted question:

“So, anyone got a humanoid in their backpack?”

The crowd giggled.

“What?” said organizer Andra Keay. “It happens.”

There were no humanoids — this time — but a robot dog, drones, a bionic eye and a roving rubber duck mixed with a few dozen people at Silicon Valley Robotics’ monthly San Francisco meetup, Bots and Beer.

Kazu Komoto (left), Lawrence Leung and Justin Kuehn play with an Aibo robotic dog during the monthly Bots and Beer event put on by Silicon Valley Robotics.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

The event, which in one form or another has been going on for nearly five years, recently found a new home at the South of Market headquarters of Comet Labs, a robotics and artificial intelligence venture capital fund.

It’s a rare chance for San Francisco’s scattered robotics community to get together, network and geek out over the latest gadgets, innovations and opportunities in their field.

“People who work in robotics or other related fields get split off by market segment really quickly in the real world,” said Erin Rapacki, who works at industrial automation firm Pneubotics and has attended robotics meetups for several years. “This is a way to bring people together and for us to access a broader community than the people we work with every day.”

Silicon Valley Robotics, a nonprofit group that hosts events and supports robot innovation, hosts two Bots and Beer parties a month, one in the South Bay and the other in San Francisco.

Dhruv Raturi checks out a Lego robotic camera quad copter during a Bots and Beer at Comet Labs in San Francisco.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

On April 6, the group will convene for a Robot Block Party — a fair at the Jabil Blue Sky Center in San Jose, where robots and their creators will put on demonstrations and educate the public in honor of National Robotics Week.

“What I like about these events is it’s very casual, it’s about just showing us what you’re excited about,” said Keay. “It’s open to everyone so we cross boundaries and meet people from all different areas.”

Keay, a robotics startup investor who founded Robot Garden and serves as the managing director of Silicon Valley Robotics, said each event brings new faces, both flesh and metal.

John Meadows, an industry pioneer who helped invent the robotic arm and now owns Able Design, is a regular at the meetups.

But most of the folks — and robots — who attended Wednesday night’s gathering were first timers.

The instructions, Keay said, were to “bring a robot, wear a robot, be a robot, or you’re buying” your own beer.

Skorpio Love Smith, who works at the Exploratorium, did all of the above.

He is not a robotics professional. He’s not an engineer. But he does have more than a dozen robotic pets, and wheels around town on his electric unicycle, a Ninebot One.

Smith demonstrated his gadgets during the event’s opening “show and tell,” and let Platinum, the robotic dog, roam freely for the rest of the event.

“She’s kind of a drama queen,” he told the crowd as they eyed his robotic Aibo dog, who was wearing a Team USA jersey. “They say that (the dogs) will do everything you say, but that’s not true. They have a mind of they’re own. She’s stubborn.”

Smith, who also wore light-up sneakers and an electric Iron Man shirt, said he enjoys being around others who have a love for robots.

Others showcased new gadgets or ideas in the making, including Holly Kasun, whose company plans to launch a fundraising campaign soon for an autonomous flying camera called Flybrix, and Tyson Messori, the co-founder of Scanse, a company that designed a 360-degree scanning sensor called Sweep.

Marissa Lang covers the intersection of technology and culture for the San Francisco Chronicle, focusing on how the tech industry and technology itself influence and reshape the Bay Area, its people and communities. She covers Twitter, Facebook and the influence of social media, diversity in tech, and the rise of fake news. Marissa joined the Chronicle in 2015. Previously, she covered City Hall for the Sacramento Bee, criminal justice and same-sex marriage for the Salt Lake Tribune and breaking news for the Tampa Bay Times. Born and raised in New York City, Marissa feels the most comfortable in bustling metropolises and is interested in issues of diversity and social justice. Se habla español.